Who is afraid of the black man?

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Movie
Original title Who is afraid of the black man?
Country of production GDR
original language German
Publishing year 1989
length 52 minutes
Rod
Director Helke Misselwitz
script Thomas Plenert ,
Helke Misselwitz
production DEFA studio for documentaries
music Brigitte Unterdörfer
camera Thomas Plenert
cut Gudrun Plenert

Who is afraid of the black man is a documentary film by the DEFA studio for documentaries by Helke Misselwitz from 1989.

action

It begins with the congratulations at the turn of the year from 1988 to 1989 on GDR television . And then you see it: the coal shop with the coal men, who are becoming increasingly rare, but who are still there who don't dump the briquettes in front of the front doors, but instead bring them in layers in wooden boxes over angled corridors to the cellars or to the old women in on the fourth floor next to the kitchen stove. The owner Renate Uhle introduces all the men in the lounge, the people who may not have a particularly good reputation, but who can all work and on whom she can rely. In addition, there is her daughter, who has been working as a teacher for 18 years and who will one day take over the business. The coal merchant has been in the family since 1922, was located at Gleimstrasse 67 until the wall was built and then had to move a few meters away because there was now a border area. The boss is a nice, polite woman who always has an open ear for her customers and, if necessary, gives a little consolation, even if she says she speaks faster than she thinks. Her husband is also shown, who was no longer able to work for the company several years ago because of a stroke.

The rattling, chugging, almost falling apart diesel ant supplies customers between Bornholmer Strasse and Eberswalder Strasse . The coal men are rough, sensitive, soft, thick-skinned, cosmopolitan, shy guys and they talk like they can "snout". Some private recordings with their families are also shown. But the majority of the film is about her work. They unload a wagon with coal at the freight yard, try to repair an ancient trailer for their ant, deliver the coal and sit together with a beer after work.

production

Who is afraid of the black man was shot as a black and white film by the KAG Kinobox under the working title Kohlemänner and had its premiere at the 12th National Festival of Documentary and Short Films from October 12th to 15th, 1989 in Neubrandenburg . Another performance took place at the 32nd International Leipzig Documentary and Short Film Week for Cinema and TV , which began on November 24, 1989 . As early as December 6, 1989, the film was broadcast on the first program on East German television. On February 8, 1990, screenings in the other GDR cinemas began in the Colosseum cinema in Berlin .

The dramaturgy was in the hands of Bernd Burkhardt.

Reviews

Klaus M. Fiedler wrote in the Neue Zeit that Heike Misselwitz knows how to approach people carefully. You never feel a distance and not even a hint of voyeurism. Her questions are not stereotyped, she tries to find out what is individual and special that is in every person.

The Lexicon of International Film states that the film is a remarkable, socially accurate study, as well as a quiet, realistic counter-draft to many other DEFA documentaries aimed at working-class heroism.

Awards

  • 1989: Prize of the French cultural television La Sept at the 12th “Cinema du reel” festival in the Pompidou cultural center in Paris

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Neue Zeit of October 17, 1989, p. 4
  2. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of November 23, 1989, p. 7
  3. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of December 6, 1989, p. 7
  4. ↑ Neue Zeit of February 2, 1990, p. 8
  5. ↑ Neue Zeit of October 17, 1989, p. 4
  6. ↑ Who is afraid of the black man ? In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 . Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used